AN appeal to expand a town centre hotel has been dismissed because of the effect it would have on the lives of neighbouring residents.

Plans for the Mandolay Hotel, in London Road, Guildford, included adding a single, two and three-storey rear and side extension to provide an additional 33 bedrooms onto the existing 72 guest rooms.

Almost 40 neighbours and organisations objected to the plans, which were rejected by Guildford Borough Council in December.

Councillors believed nearby properties would be overlooked and neighbours would lose privacy because of the scale and proximity of the development.

They said the extension would integrate poorly with the design of the hotel and it would result in a negative impact on the Waterden Road conservation area.

But hotel owner Stephen Hay tried to reverse the decision, with the help of consultants D&M Planning, claiming the expansion would enhance the commercial viability of the hotel and increase tourism in the town.

However, a planning inspector has now upheld the council’s views. The extension was to be 8.5m high, falling to 2m, 27.2m wide and 23m deep.

Inspector Gerry Hollington said the expansion would have had an “unduly complicated appearance” and an “incongruous relationship” with the existing extensions.

“The development is proposed as a means of enhancing the hotel’s commercial viability, bringing greater prosperity to the town and aiding recovery from the recession,” he added.

“The National Planning Policy Framework stresses that significant weight should be placed on the need to support economic growth through the planning system, but it also points out that planning should always seek to secure high quality design and a good standard of amenity. The appeal proposal would not achieve these latter objectives.”

Mr Hay said he was “disappointed” with the decision.

“Guildford is blessed with many wonderful attractions and the recent opening of G Live and the Radisson Hotel have given fresh impetus to the area, in fact occupancy at Mandolay has never been higher during the 14 years since we bought the hotel,” he added.

“It was with this in mind that we applied to build an additional 33 bedrooms, which would have taken us to a total of 105.

“We are an independently owned hotel and conference centre and the additional bedrooms would have given us the opportunity to employ more people in Guildford and allow us to ensure the viability and continuation of the business for many years to come.”

The Guildford Society objected to a lack of parking provision, as the planning application did not include adding more bays to the existing 49 spaces.

“We are pleased that the inspector upheld the council’s decision to refuse the application,” said John Baylis, secretary of the society’s planning group.